NASA Hubble: A galaxy of one trillion stars is barrelling towards the Milky Way

The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxy are expected to spectacularly merge into one system approximately four billion years from now. But NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has found another galaxy barreling through space towards our system. The distant Messier 90 is a spiral galaxy in the Virgo Cluster – a group of more than 1,200 galaxies in the constellation Virgo. According to NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), Messier 90 is “remarkable” because it is one of the few galaxies flying towards us and not away. ESA, which operates Hubble with NASA, said: “This Hubble image stars Messier 90, a beautiful spiral galaxy located roughly 60 million light-years from the Milky Way in the constellation of Virgo – the Virgin. “The galaxy is part of the Virgo Cluster, a gathering of galaxies that is over 1,200 strong. “The image combines infrared, ultraviolet and visible light gathered by the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.” NASA estimates there are a trillion stars contained within the Messier 90 galaxy. READ MORE: Hubble picture snaps glimpse of what will happen to our Sun in 4 billion years Because the Hubble camera was built from four sensors, it produced the black, staircase-like patches on its images. Regardless, the instrument managed to photograph Messier 90 in its full glory. ESA said: “Messier 90 is remarkable; it is one of the few galaxies seen to be travelling toward the Milky Way, not away from it. “The galaxy’s light reveals this incoming motion in a phenomenon known as blueshift.” READ MORE: Hubble telescope just snapped the BIGGEST fireworks in the galaxy As the galaxy approaches the Milky Way, it compresses its emitted light towards the blue end of the visible spectrum. On the visible light spectrum, shorter wavelengths are blue while longer wavelengths moved towards red. Just like a squashed slinky, ESA said the galaxy’s blue light gives away Messier 90’s movement. The movement is unusual because astronomers agree the universe is expanding, which means the distances between galaxies is growing. READ MORE: Hubble Telescope stuns with picture of galaxy 70 million light-years away